To whom do you listen? (Acts 27)

"The centurion, however, paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said" (Acts 27:11).

Paul's journey to Rome was perilous. Facing difficult conditions, the Romans had managed to get Paul only to a port near the city of Lasea on the island of Crete. Luke reports that "the time of the fast" - the Jewish Day of Atonement, falling in late September or early October - "had already gone by" (Acts 27:9). Winter was approaching, and ships usually spent the months from November through March in harbor, because frequent storms and poor visibility made sea travel on the Mediterranean far more dangerous. Paul knew well the hazards of the seas. He had been shipwrecked three times previously, as he relates in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 11:25). Luke does not say whether Paul was warned by the Holy Spirit or simply knew from experience, but Paul strongly warned the Roamn centurion against embarking from the port of Lasea with winter coming. 

The centurion likely knew little about Paul, other than that he was on trial over a dispute about the Jewish religion. He deferred to the pilot of the ship, presumably the man with the most practical knowledge of the situation, and the owner of the ship, presumably the man with the most economic interest in getting the cargo to Rome quickly. And he ignored the counsel of the apostle.

At least at first. "Before long an offshore wind of hurricane force called a 'Northeaster' struck" (Acts 27:14). The crew had to dump all of the ship's cargo overboard, but "neither the sun nor the stars were visible for many days, and no small storm raged. Finally, all hope of our surviving was taken away" (Acts 27:20). 

In this desperate situation Paul told the crew that the angel of the Lord has appeared to him in a dream and told him that everyone on the ship would be saved. When the ship approached and the crew attempted to reach shore on the dinghy, Paul warned them, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” This time they heeded Paul's advice, cutting the ropes of the dinghy and staying with the ship. The next day, they reached land on the island of Malta. 

The centurion faced a choice between listening to a human expert and a wealthy man, and listening to the apostle of God. When he put his faith in man, he nearly lost his life. When he trusted in God, speaking to him through Paul, he was delivered from the storm. When the counsels of human experts diverge from the wisdom of the Holy Spirit speaking through the Church, to whom do you listen?